Democratic Party of Turkmenistan

The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT) is a centrist political party in Turkmenistan that was founded on 16 December 1991 by Saparmurat Niyazov, the former head of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan. Niyazov created the new DPT to replace the Communist Party during the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, and he had the Communist Party banned. Niyazov became the authoritarian strongman in charge of Turkmenistan, which was a dictatorial one-party state until free elections were held in 2013. The party supported social conservatism, Turkmen nationalism, secularism, and anti-clericalism, and it was the ruling party of Turkmenistan for decades.